Night Talks
by swativ1826
Summary: A conversation in the night
1. One

_Hope you like it. Don't own anything, just a fan._

 **I**

The sound of the phone woke Christine from her slumber with a start, she didn't even bother to look at the name before answering, although even if she had she would have picked up, always.

"Hello, who's this and don't you have anything better to do than to call people at..." she paused to look at the time, " at 3:45 am in the morning?!" her annoyance was very clear in her words.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to hear your voice," came the reply which was softer than she had ever heard him.

"Stephen? ", she was suddenly more awake and a little concerned,

"What's wrong? Are you okay? Do you need help?", she rambled on without taking a breath.

He suddenly realised that him calling out of nowhere was not something she was used to;

"I'm fine, physically speaking," he answered which somewhat calmed her down a little.

"Okay...So I think the next question should be that why are calling at 3:45 in the morning?".

After a pause of few seconds he replied in a low voice,

" I had a bad dream."

'Okay...', she got up from bed and went to sit in the chair near the window knowing it might be a long conversation, "...what did you see?", she asked softly.

There was a long pause as if he was trying to find the words or maybe he was afraid to say the words.

"I was in the sanctum.. and I saw a chair...," he paused again as the visual appeared in front of his eyes as a fresh memory,

"...and someone was sitting on it... I wanted to say something, but... before I could, the room filled up with an excruciating amount of sadness...I could feel it in my bones," he paused to take a breath, surprised on how much this had affected him "as I started to move forward... someone... something started rising from the back of the chair and...", he literally was scared to say it out loud,

"And?", her voice came as an encouragement, but there was no response, as if he just couldn't get the words out.

With only silence between them she realised he needed a little more of a push,

"This is the first time you are sharing something with me, Stephen, it'll be a shame to leave it unfinished."

The realisation dawned on him too, "It was you, Christine. On the chair."

"And..."

"Go on.."

"And I saw you die."

She was sure what she heard in his voice was fear.

"It's just a dream, I'm right here talking to you."

" I know, didn't stop the chill that ran through me..."

She was too surprised to say anything. He got worried about her because he saw her die in a dream. That's a new one.

"...Or the fact that I am standing outside your window."

She took a split second to get up and peered down to see him standing across the street leaning against a tree, looking at her with a smile.

"Hey." he said due to the lack of words;

"Hey", she replied as she leaned against the window;

"It was just a dream." she assured him again;

"It felt so real, the happiness when I saw you..," he could dimly see the smile on her face, "and the fear when..." he trailed off , not wanting to repeat it;

He looked tired, she noticed and different, maybe because he was wearing a hoodie and pants, not what she was now used to seeing him in.

After a few seconds of looking at each other in the night light, she gave in;

"Coffee?"

"Do you have Tea?"


	2. Two

Her apartment looked the same as he last saw it. Simple yet elegant.

He waited patiently on the couch while she was in the kitchen which surprised her further , he was never someone to wait for anyone.

She handed him his cup of tea and sat down on the other side with her coffee cradled in her hands.

"It's good tea." he complemented after taking a sip;

"Thank you." she replied with a smile.

They sat there for a few minutes simply enjoying the silence.

He wanted to say so much but, as usual didn't know where to begin and as always she came to his rescue;

"Stephen , you didn't come to my apartment at 4 in the morning just because you had a nightmare."

He looked up from his tea to see her beautiful face and that was all the encouragement he needed;

"Before all that happened, I never had a nightmare, even after the accident, not once, mostly because I couldn't care about anyone but myself."

She looked down in her cup not wanting to see his face;

"But tonight was the first time I have ever felt fear.",

She looked up and saw the truth of it in his eyes,

"I have said this before and I will say it again because it is only I have left to say to you - I'm sorry for everything I put you through, if I had the chance I would do it all differently."

" And I have said this before too, you don't need to apologise anymore, Stephen, all of that is in the past, and we are past that..."

"Doesn't take away the pain I caused you.."

She looked at him and for a second found it hard to recognise he was the same arrogant man she once knew.

"How differently?", she suddenly asked to change the tone of the conversation;

"What?", he was a little clueless,

"You said you would do it differently, how differently?"

Well, he didn't prepare an elaboration to that statement, but he could try, for her the least he could do was try;

"Well, for starters I would attempt to take you out on a proper date...",

She smiled at that and ducked her head,

"Yes, we could start with that.."

The smile on her face was too enchanting to take his eyes off, so he didn't.

Also what he said next was something he should have said a long long time ago;

"Will you go on a date with me?"

The spilling of the coffee from her mouth could be taken as an indication that she was surprised to hear that;

"What?"

He smiled at her reaction and asked again;

"Will you go out on a date with me, Dr. Palmer?"

She took a good few minutes to process and reply to that, but the answer made it worth the wait.

"Okay."


	3. Three

_Thank you for reading, hope you like it._

 _Don't own anything, still just a fan._

"What do you mean, 'let's go'?"

"That's exactly what I mean, let's go."

They were standing in the kitchen after finishing their respective drinks;

"We can't go now."

"Why not?"

"For starters, it's 4 in the morning and secondly where would we go, nothing will be open right now."

He paused as if trying to find a alternative and then his face lit up;

"Come with me", he said as he pushed her towards to the living room and opened a portal,

"Stephen, where are we going?", she asked , a little apprehensive of what he was doing;

"Trust me?", he asked as he extended his hand towards her;

"When have I not.", as she put hers in his and stepped through the glowing circle;

They stepped into a place which was now familiar to her, he brought her to the sanctum a couple of times and she rather liked it;

"Where are you taking me?", she asked as he led her through halls and rooms by her hand;

"You'll see", he answered without looking back.

And finally he let go of her hand which made her miss the warmth instantly and opened a door in front of them.

He gestured her to enter the dark room which for a second, made her think, but, then she looked at his face and the doubts just vaporised;

She entered the darkness and heard the door close behind her;

"Stephen?', she asked in a slight panicky voice, it was pitch dark;

"Stephen?', she called out again while extending her hands in the dark hoping to find something and suddenly, there was light.


	4. Four

_Hope you like it and thank you everyone for reading:)_

 _Still don't own a thing._

It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the brightness, and when they did all she could do was stare;

It was a massive ball room, she took a few steps inside and looked up to see the entire ceiling made of lights, almost a hundred making the entire room look like a bright star and it looked beautiful.

He stayed quiet only because he was worried, almost scared that she might not like it. She walked further in, looked nowhere but up;

"Well... isn't this something...", she finally said before looking at him with a smile;

The relief on his face was visible from a mile away;

"...it's beautiful."

His smile broadened and he walked towards her, when he was inches away he extended his hand;

"May I?"

Her laugh made the room a little more brighter, "Yes, you may..", she replied as she put her hand in his and felt the warmth she was missing;

"..but, there's no music."

As soon as she said it, from the corner of the room the cloak appeared pushing a little table;

"Let there be music."

As he said it a beautiful tune started playing and before she knew it, they were swaying to every note.

He held her gently, led her across the giant room with a care she had never seen in him for as long as she had known him.

They don't know for how long they danced, but, the sun was peeking through the massive windows and the lights were now crystals that were sparkling in the dawn.

They sat on the floor talking about anything that came to mind.

He looked over towards her and saw the sunlight was reflecting off her face, making it glow and he could swear, he had never seen a sight so beautiful.

"I can't even remember the last time I smiled this much in one night";

Her voice disturbed his almost creepy stare, "Well, that is something even I can't remember."

She looked up and found their faces inches apart and that made her notice really how much he had aged. He no longer had that arrogance or pride that she was once confronted with every day.

"You need to get out more",

He smiled, "Yes, so do you."

"I guess, we are out of touch with the normal world."

"Guess we are."

They caught each other's eyes and found it hard to look away.

He had controlled himself for a long time, but her being so close to him, he felt like his heart could burst.

Before his now rational mind interrupted, he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead;

She was surprised for a second, and then closed her eyes as it gave her all kinds of feels.

As she looked back at him, she saw a confidence in his eyes which made her brave as well.

She gently touched a wrinkle near his eye and felt him lean in her hand.

They could have stayed there forever, but there was a pressing matter that needed to be acknowledged.

"You hungry?"

"Starving."


	5. Five

_Certainly not the best writing but hope you like it. Thank you for reading._

 _Don't own a thing._

The surprises were never ending for her today.

He cooks. And he's good at it too.

It took her five minutes, tops, to finish the delicious meal that he had made with his own hands;

"When did that happened?", she asked finally after finishing and sitting across that counter, watching him cleaning the dishes, another one for the day.

He turned around from the sink, "What do you mean?".

She walked around the counter and took a cloth and the dish in his hand to dry off;

"The cooking. When did that happen? Because the man I knew wouldn't even make a cup of coffee, ever."

He stood still as she took another dish from his hand wishing he could take all that back, but he can't, "Well, that man went bankrupt and travelled to Nepal to learn the Mystic arts and had to learn to do everything himself because apparently Kamar Taj doesn't have a concierge service."

She couldn't help but laugh at that and he couldn't help but stare and stare and keep staring, till her eyes met his and the silence between them was shouting everything they were feeling.

She finally broke off their gaze, mostly because she didn't want to get carried away, not yet.

"So, this is all you would have done differently."

"Yeah, pretty much, except what happened before without the date."

It took her half a second to understand exactly what he meant.

"Really? You don't regret..",

"Regret??", he immediately cut her off, before that thought could take further space between them;

"I admit, the timing was off and I could have handled it better, but Christine..", he took one step closer to her,

"I have never and I will never regret being with you, in fact, if there is anything to regret, it's the moments we missed because I was not brave enough."

She was still in amazement of the man she sees before her, it takes her breath away sometimes;

She took the last step towards him so they were only a few inches away;

"What you do everyday, what you go through to protect this world, I think it makes you quite brave."

"Never brave enough in front of you, with you, I can barely function."

Her laugh echoed the room, "To do what?", she asked lightly,

He could have waited, for the right time, the right place, certainly a better occasion, but she was right there, a few inches away from him and the thought of what he saw, no time like the present.

Before he could ask his brain to stop and think he had leaned in and gently pressed his lips to hers;

He lightly held her face in his trembling hands and after a few seconds he pulled back to look at her, mentally preparing himself for the rejection.

But when he did, he saw not anger, but she was glowing and smiling and happy.

"What took you so long?", she said as her hands made way to his face and stroked the side of his eyes;

He laughed out at that, all the tension draining away from his body; "You of all people should know, I am a little slow."

She couldn't stop herself from laughing and he couldn't stop himself from pulling her closer.

They stood there for a long time, just relishing the feeling of pure happiness that they were feeling.

"What time is it?", she suddenly asked breaking the beautiful silence;

"Almost 7:30."

"I need to go", she sighed;

"I know.", he replied, but not loosening his grip;

She let him hold her for a few more moments, mostly because she did.'t want to leave either,

"Can I take you lunch?', he asked rather excitingly;

"Sure.", she replied with a smile which broadened his as well.


	6. Six

_Last chapter for this story, for now. Thank you very very much for reading and the sweetest reviews, thank you._

 _Hope you like it._

 _Don't own a thing, just a fan._

He never showed. She thought about calling him, thought about going to see him, but she didn't.

She thought maybe he had work to do, so she let the day pass and the next one and the next and the one after that too.

After a week of silence, she convinced herself, it was too good to be true.

He was way beyond her reach now, he definitely had important ways to spend his time than with her.

But, as always he had to prove her wrong, so on the eleventh day when a portal opened in her living room at nine at night and he stepped out and without a word pulled her to him touching his lips to hers, all of the doubts were evaporated;

"I can explain.", he said as they separated,

She looked at him for a few seconds debating internally of what was she supposed to do, knowing well what she will do;

"Coffee?", she asked while she touched the corner of his eyes, noticing the tiredness;

He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead before replying;

"Tea?."


	7. Thank you

_This is just a thank you to all of you who take your time out to read my stories cause I feel like I don't express it properly. For someone who's writing is only a few months old, nothing is a greater encouragement than acceptance._

 _Thank you for reading my writing and allowing me to continue with this unexpected passion of mine ( I say this because I honestly didn't think I could write shit, let alone entire stories and now writing my first novel)._

 _So thank you again and a million more times for reading and leaving those sweet, beautiful and encouraging reviews, I love you all for them._


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